Many people have asked me. Why are you raising capital? You don’t need the money – so why not self-fund it yourselves? I’ve been asked this several times in pursuit of the venture financing I’m closing for gWallet. The simple answer is: I know my DNA. You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Let me explain. Generally, here are the top three reasons why people want to raise money:

1. They need the money.
2. They are hoping investors will land them big clients.
3. They’ve reached the natural evolution in their company where they need to add a board.

Fortunately, in my last two companies – #1 never applied to me and even this time around it doesn’t apply to me. #2 – is also a first time entrepreneur’s dream. Venture money doesn’t always guarantee new business. Board members are going to make introductions – which means your product and your sales acumen will still have to speak. #3 – is a natural occurrence when you’re a first time entrepreneur and need expertise on how to grow a real business or if your business has matured and requires the experience of a proper board to take it to the next level.

Now let’s get back to my reasoning. I know my DNA. What does this mean? It means a lot to me. Part of my upbringing – we struggled as an immigrant family. Constantly, we’d have to live under the scenario: need vs. necessity. What do you really need and what is necessary? Survival. They are two very separate ways to live. Think about it. The need maybe a new car – but the necessity maybe just a car with four wheels. That’s how I lived growing up – and that’s how I founded both of my Companies. The first time I never raised any capital and I bootstrapped it the entire way. The second time around, I bootstrapped it for 1 year and then ended up raising $11.5 million but never actually used it (since we remained profitable at all times).

But, here’s what happened to me as an entrepreneur. I changed. My frugal mindset never changed. But, I was more comfortable making all the RIGHT decisions when I felt best we needed to make them. For example, after 12 months of starting BlueLithium, I made the decision to open Europe. It ended up becoming one of the best decisions for the Company since we ended becoming the 2^nd largest ad network a year later in Europe. Second example, in any interview I did, it was all about hiring the “best” talent or “rockstars” I like to call them. Never did I worry about “how am I going to afford this person?” or “Oh my god, this person is going to make 2-3 times more than me!” It was all about getting the best and paying for the best.

So here I am company #3. While I can self-fund the entire lot myself. I don’t want to hold back and I want to hit the ground running hiring the best and executing on the best decisions. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it…

Tags: bluelithium, entrepreneur, financing, venture